Trial opens for Shrewsbury man accused of beating wife to death

Thursday

Mar 27, 2014 at 8:04 PM

By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WORCESTER — It was against the backdrop of a failing marriage that Keith Rosiello fatally beat his 44-year-old wife, Maureen Rosiello, four years ago in the couple's Shrewsbury home, according to opening statements Thursday in Mr. Rosiello's murder trial in Worcester Superior Court.

Assistant District Attorney Terry J. McLaughlin said he expected the evidence to prove that the Feb. 3, 2010, killing, which took place in the home Mr. and Mrs. Rosiello shared with their two children at 32 Deerfield Road, Shrewsbury, was first-degree murder, a slaying committed with both deliberate premeditation and extreme atrocity or cruelty.

The prosecutor told the jury in his opening statement that the Rosiellos' marital problems developed in the fall of 2009, when Mr. Rosiello began accusing his wife of having an affair with his best friend. He then became romantically involved with a co-worker, according to Mr. McLaughlin.

In January of 2010, while Mrs. Rosiello was staying temporarily with her parents, her husband paid her a visit and again accused her of being unfaithful, the assistant district attorney said. Mr. Rosiello also said at that time that he had been looking into the divorce laws and planned to give his wife a "stipend" once they were divorced, not half of the marital assets, according to Mr. McLaughlin.

Weeks later, he said, Mr. Rosiello beat his wife to death in the presence of their two children, punching her in the stomach, smashing her head on the floor and later "stomping" her and striking her with a piece of wood as she lay injured and bleeding from a head wound.

The next day, before calling police, Mr. Rosiello gathered together his children and sister, Lisa Ricardo, a co-defendant in the case, and told them they had to convince authorities that Mrs. Rosiello was the aggressor and had attacked him, Mr. McLaughlin told the jury.

Defense lawyer Michael C. Wilcox said the 49-year-old Mr. Rosiello, who holds a master's degree in engineering design from WPI, was suffering from a mental disorder at the time of the killing and became delusional, believing not only that his wife was being unfaithful with others, but that she was also plotting to kill him.

Mr. Wilcox told the jury his client's delusional thinking was exacerbated by drug abuse and said he and his wife used Ecstasy and cocaine at times in an effort to get to the root of his mistrust of her.

He said the evidence would show his client was also using other controlled substances and began neglecting his personal hygiene and flying into fits of rage without provocation in the days leading up to the fatal beating.

"He was not in his right mind then and you will hear that he hadn't been for quite some time," Mr. Wilcox told the jury.

He said forensic psychologist John Daignault, an expert witness for the defense, would testify that because of his delusions and drug use, Mr. Rosiello was incapable of forming the specific intent to kill required for a murder conviction.

The jury was later taken by bus to view the home where Mrs. Rosiello was killed. Testimony in the trial was expected to begin Friday.